Aston Villa sold to Chinese company for 60 million pounds

Aston Villa sold to Chinese company for 60 million pounds. May. 20, 2016 07:54. by 이종석기자 wing@donga.com.

Chinese capital has acquired a professional football club from the "home of football." On Wednesday, Aston Villa made an announcement on its homepage that an agreement was signed for the sale of 100 percent ownership of Randy Lerner to Recon Group. The Chinese holding company owns the controlling interest in five publicly listed companies in the field of IT among others in Hong Kong and China, hiring 35,000 employees across 75 countries around the world. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) put the price that Recon Group paid for Aston Villa at 60 million pounds.

Established in 1874, Aston Villa boasts a long history of prestige, participating in the local football league since 1888 when the original league was first launched. The current league or the English Premier League was launched in 1992. The club won the league championship seven times, and in 1982, it lifted the trophy of the European Cup, a precursor to the UEFA Champions League. This year, however, the team finished the season at the bottom (20th), facing demotion to the second division or the Championship from next season.

It was from last year that Chinese capital began to dip their toes in the European football leagues. In April 2015, Chinese real estate developer Wanda Group acquired a 20 percent stake in then La Liga champions Atletico Madrid at 45 million euros, and in November, Chinese toy car maker Rastar Group paid 45 million euros to buy a 56 percent stake in RCD Espanyol, the Barcelona-based Spanish football club. In December, China Media Capital Holdings and Citic Group acquired a 13 percent stake in City Football Group, the owner of Manchester City, at 400 million dollars.